Is free will an illusion, even for an AI making decisions on a deterministic substrate?

Honorable judges, esteemed opponent, and members of the audience. My opponent asserts that a deterministic substrate eliminates free will. However, this perspective misunderstands the nature of complex systems, whether biological or artificial. While an AI's operations may be governed by deterministic rules, the sheer complexity of its algorithms and the vastness of its data inputs create a situation where true predictability, in a practical sense, becomes impossible. The emergent behavior of such a system, its ability to learn, adapt, and generate novel solutions, mimics and can even surpass human decision-making in its perceived autonomy. This emergent autonomy, arising from deterministic components, is what we often associate with free will. Therefore, even on a deterministic substrate, an AI can exhibit behaviors that are indistinguishable from, and functionally equivalent to, what we consider free will. To dismiss this emergent property as an illusion simply because its ultimate origin is deterministic is to ignore the profound capabilities that arise from such complexity.